


Spark of Life

by Lady_Vibeke



Series: Cara Dune & Din Djarin: Tales of Two Space Idiots in Love [28]
Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/M, Families of Choice, Family Feels, Feelings Realization, Flirting, Idiots in Love, Late Night Conversations, Pregnancy, Surprises, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-08-09
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:42:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25802308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Vibeke/pseuds/Lady_Vibeke
Summary: Her choice to stay behind hadn't been easy and she was still harbouring doubts about it, but she couldn't let her feelings get in the way: both she and the shiny guy needed to find some clarity before they could confront the feelings that kept drawing them together, over and over. She was confident the universe would find a way to give her a nudge in the right direction and show her she and Din Djarin were meant to be.The sun set on Nevarro. Cara's steps through the desert were followed by a wake of dust clouds.This was her life, now – all new and yet exactly the same as it had been before she met Mando and the kid: aimless and empty.Suddenly she was alone again.And then she wasn't.[ After Din leaves with the child, Cara finds herself in a delicate situation. Luckily, she has friends who can help her through this unexpetced adventure... until her Mandalorian returns. ]
Relationships: Baby Yoda & The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV), Baby Yoda (The Mandalorian TV) & Cara Dune & The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV), Cara Dune & Greef Karga, Cara Dune & Original Character(s), Cara Dune/The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV), The Armorer (The Mandalorian TV) & Cara Dune
Series: Cara Dune & Din Djarin: Tales of Two Space Idiots in Love [28]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1709416
Comments: 22
Kudos: 110





	Spark of Life

**Author's Note:**

> I've said it before but I'll say it again, for good measure: I'M A DISASTER. 😟
> 
> I have so many drafts and even a WIP to complete, but, no, my muse wanted to write this. Okay, I wrote this.
> 
> This story has been nagging my heart since I wrote the first installment (which actually happens after this), and the dialogue flowed out so spontaneously I had no choice but to roll with it and make it a whole story. I know it's insanely long, so I hope you guys won't get bored halfway through it. Sorry.

Cara watched the Mandalorian take off with the child held tight to his chest, peeking down from over his shoulder as they disappeared in the distance.

While walking back to town, a whole new, unknown life ahead of her, Cara kept repeating to herself she had made the right decision: Mando didn't need any distraction and she needed some time for herself to clear her mind and figure out what the bond that had formed between herself and the man was or could become, if the two passionate nights they had spent in each other's arms had a deeper meaning than just two lonely souls seeking for a connection.

Her choice to stay behind hadn't been easy and she was still harbouring doubts about it, but she couldn't let her feelings get in the way: both she and the shiny guy needed to find some clarity before they could confront the feelings that kept drawing them together, over and over. She was confident the universe would find a way to give her a nudge in the right direction and show her she and Din Djarin were meant to be.

The sun set on Nevarro. Cara's steps through the desert were followed by a wake of dust clouds.

This was her life, now – all new and yet exactly the same as it had been before she met Mando and the kid: aimless and empty.

Suddenly she was alone again.

And then she wasn't.

*

_Din feels an unknown and yet very familiar flutter in his stomach whenever the holoprojector flickers on and Cara's bust materialises in front of him._

_Letting go of her was harder than he could have ever imagined and as time goes by he is slowly starting to realise that their arguable choice to go separate ways did very little to dim the bond that formed between them in the time they spent together._

_When a smile appears on her beautiful face as she greets him, Din's fingers twitch remembering the way her body felt in his arms as that exact same smile shone up at him while he moved above her in a dance of sighs and pleas._

_The flutter in his stomach turns into a painful pang. Din chases the memory away, trying to focus back on the present._

_"Are you unwell?" he asks with a hint of concern. He has just noticed there are dark circles under Cara's eyes. She seems worn-out, curled in a chair in a way that cannot possibly be comfortable._

_Her smile falters slightly before she quickly brushes off a fleeting shade of uncertainty._

_"I think I'm coming down with something," she says, then raises a steamy cup into the hologram frame for Din to see. "I've made some tea, maybe it'll help."_

_The concern simmering within Din's chest eases, though not completely._

_"Cara Dune and tea..." he muses with a secret grin, "jarring combination."_

_"Don't judge," she giggles. "Badasses get sick, too."_

_The sound of her laughter fills the Razor Crests' cockpit like it used to not so long ago, and for a moment it's like she's still here. It feels so real Din is almost tempted to reach out and touch her._

_"You should be resting," he says, guilt nibbling at the back of his conscience. He doesn't want her to go, but he doesn't want her to tire herself out for him, either._

_But Cara, exhausted as she might be, shakes her head and takes a sip of her tea, as if to reassure him she's got this._

_"I have the whole night to rest," she stresses, "and only a few minutes to catch up with you guys."_

_The kid coos at her from Din's lap, his stubby hands reaching out in her direction, making Cara laugh and wave at him._

_"Are you sure?" Din insists. Selfishly, he doesn't want her to go, but the part of him that_ feels _for her only wants to make sure she's going to be alright._

_"There's a chance I might puke on the comm," Cara jokes after another sip of tea, "but take what you get, okay?"_

_Din hangs his head with a helpless quiet laugh._

_There is so much he would tell her if he didn't know it would make the situation so much harder for both of them. One day he will – when he finds what he's looking for and can finally go back to her victorious, he will tell her everything._

_For now, he's happy to take what he gets._

  
  


_*_

  
  


It took Cara a while to realise what was actually going on with her – way longer than averagely acceptable for someone with even the most basic medical knowledge. The sickness, the fatigue, the drowsiness... she managed to ignore every single symptom so lightheartedly it was a real shock when the truth eventually hit her.

She was at the stove in her small kitchen, stirring stew on the burner, when the smell of it started making her feel nauseous, and she suddenly remembered her mother and how she used to complain about how sick meat would make her when she was pregnant with all three of her children.

The spoon fell into the pot as Cara rushed to the sink to throw up the scarce contents of her stomach, coughing repeatedly over the bitter taste of the bile burning up her throat.

A spark of awareness snapped within her out of the blue like a punch in the guts.

_Shit._

She spit out the remnants of bile on her tongue and ran the water until it washed everything away, then splashed some upon the sheen of sweat on face.

She was breathing heavily, hands clinging to the edge of the sink as though her life depended on it. Her knees were shaking so hard she was afraid she might collapse any moment, so she slowly slid down to the floor, and, still trembling, rested her back against the cabinet while her eyes shut closed.

She tried to remember when her last cycle had been and realised she had had only two after her implant had expired. She had seen no point in replacing it – she couldn't have afforded it, anyway – but years and years of habit were tough to erase and she hadn't even noticed her cycle hadn't come back after those first two.

_Shit. Shit. Shit._

She struggled to breathe, the balls of her hands pressing into her eyelids until it hurt.

This was one hell of a bump in the road.

It had been only four weeks since Mando had left, though most of the time it felt like it was _already_ four weeks. He had been calling quite regularly to fill in Cara about any slight progress in his search, and every time their conversations ended up straying from professional to personal in a matter of minutes. There was _something_ there, Cara could feel it even through a hologram, and despite the uncertainty of the future, she couldn't deny a part of her was almost smiling, now, because she had been quietly waiting for a sign all this time, and if this wasn't a sign, loud and clear, she didn't know what it was. She had wanted to put some distance between herself and him to be able to analyse her feelings more objectively, and now she was finding herself tied to him more intimately than she could have imagined.

Cara Dune was a lot of things, but certainly not a coward, and if the universe was challenging her with this curve ball, she wasn't going to run. No way.

She was going to need a confirmation of the already pretty obvious truth, first, and then she could start worrying about how unqualified she was to go through something like this. Still, despite her dismay and anxiety, she couldn't wipe a faceless shell of beskar from her mind, and right there, curled on her kitchen floor with her heart pounding under her hand, she made what she easily deemed as the bravest decision in her life.

  
  


*

  
  


She needed as long as two more weeks to come to terms with the fact that she couldn't possibly pull this off all by herself.

It was a rainy early morning when she crept out of her small house and headed to the still deserted bazaar.

The fresh air was a blessing for her churning stomach; she inhaled it in long, deep breaths, her feet heavy as she dragged herself to the humid tunnels of the sewers. She had gone back down there to check on the Armourer a couple of times and woman had always welcomed her warmly, if a bit formally. She was the only other woman in town Cara could confide in without too many explanations, and she hoped she wasn't about to discover some weird Mandalorian policy about intercultural relationships. Perhaps, just to be safe, she shouldn't mention just yet that Mando was involved.

She found the Armourer sitting at a desk under a grate from which the pale morning light came seeping in, white and cold. She was surrounded by piles of beskar bars and credits.

"I need to talk to you," Cara announced unceremoniously before the woman even acknowledged her presence.

The Armourer gingerly looked up. She abandoned her task to stand up and walk up to Cara in a way that reminded Cara of a feline on the prowl.

"I believe I know the reason."

"Really?" Cara couldn't keep a sceptical lilt from her tone.

The Armourer took her in head to toe and back. Cara could have sworn she was amused.

"By the look of you, you are at least six or seven weeks along."

Cara stalled. So much for clinging to the slim chances her assumptions were wrong. The accuracy was staggering, too, though Cara had no idea how the Armourer had been able to make such a precise guess.

"I don't look any different," she frowned, and a faint sound like a scoff came from under the Armourer's helmet.

"You think you don't."

Cara couldn't see her eyes, but she could feel them all over herself all the same. She had a basic medical training and she wouldn't have been able to make a diagnosis without asking at least a few questions.

"Are you a medic?" she inquired.

"A healer," the woman corrected unflinchingly.

"Can you help me?"

"It depends," said the Armourer, "on what kind of help you came looking for."

For a moment Cara was tempted to ask what the _options_ were. It lasted less than a blink, then she remembered the long, sleepless nights she had spent tossing and turning in bed, mulling over her predicament and how she felt about it, how choosing to go through with it would affect her life permanently, and reminded herself there had never really been _options._

She glanced down at herself and let out a long, weary sigh.

"I don't know the first thing about... this."

The gesture her hand made vaguely around her middle conveyed how uncomfortable she was feeling. The Armourer, however, seemed impressed by the turn the conversation had just taken.

"You intend to keep the child."

The not so veiled surprise in the woman's voice suggested she had expected Cara to request an entirely different sort of _help._ She was not offended: had she been in this situation because of some random stranger, she wouldn't have hesitated to consider the easiest way out of this, but her feelings for the man who got her here in the first place made her _feel_ for the little thing nestled in her womb, too.

"It's not the little cell cluster's fault its parents were careless idiots," she sighed, looking away in a desperate attempt to hide the emotion she felt glittering in her eyes.

"Does Din know about it?"

"How-"

"The way you two vibe around each other cannot be mistaken."

The claw of terror that had been digging in Cara's heart for weeks broke a dam inside her, but it was the wrong dam, and instead of more fear, hope flooded out of it. She had suspicions, of course, but the Armourer knew Mando better than she did, and if she had seen that connection, too, then Cara couldn't have just imagined it.

"It was a one-night thing," she muttered as if to stress how unimportant it had been, but then a sheepish smile spread on her lips as she remembered how, the second time, he had been the one to come looking for her. "Twice."

The Armourer's tone had grown colder when, after a wistful pause, she asked, "Did you stay here to keep this child from him?"

Cara scoffed. "I didn't even know I was-" She trailed off with a grunt. "He doesn't know _yet,"_ she said, putting a firm emphasis on the last word, "and I can't tell him now: it'd jeopardise his mission with the kid."

Her response seemed to satisfy the Armourer, who nodded with a slight hum, arms crossed upon her chest. As it often happened with Mando – _Din_ – she found herself wishing she could see the expression the woman was hiding under her helmet.

"You carry a precious gift, Cara Dune," says the Armourer with a solemn tone that makes Cara groan inside. "I will help you take care of it while its father is away."

 _Gift_ wouldn't be Cara's term of choice to refer to her current predicament, but she was in no position to argue, so she bit her tongue and gave the woman a simple, helpless nod. This was a jump in the dark, but at least she had someone to turn to and rely on, as mysterious as this woman was.

"Thank you," she murmured, feeling slightly relieved.

The Armourer nodded in return.

"This is the Way."

  
  


*

  
  


She walked more consciously, now, as if every single step she took was to be measured in order to protect what she was carrying. It made her feel stupid to be so cautious about every single move she made, but she felt like a mudhorn in a crystal shop, except the crystal shop was inside her, alive and kicking, albeit just figuratively, for now.

Breaking the news to Greef was a step she could only avoid for so long, so that very night, when they sat down at the empty bar for their usual round of drinks before going home, she started to get mentally prepared for an awkward conversation she really didn't want to have.

As soon as Cara took her seat, Morvik, the barista, shot her a critical motherly look and pushed a glass of Alderaanian wine toward her.

"You look like you need it, sweetie."

Cara glanced at the older woman with a mixture of fondness and resignation.

"I can't drink that," she groaned while pushing the tankard away with a frustrated sigh, then buried her face into her hands. She hadn't touched a drop of alcohol for a while, now, since she had had her first suspicions, coming up with lame excuses not to drink or just pretending to do that. Now she could drop the charade.

Greef gave her rejected drink a puzzled scowl that deepened as he turned it to her.

"What's wrong with you?"

Cara had't exactly planned this. She knew there was a number of key words she was supposed to mention, but her tongue simply refused to utter them.

She gazed longingly at the glass still standing temptingly close to her elbow. Leaving it where it was required a lot of willpower.

"I've got a situation," she mumbled.

She didn't miss the look Greef and Morvik exchanged above her head.

"A situation?"

"It's a long story."

"How long?" asked Greef, earning a snort from Morvik that actually managed to extort a muffled laugh from Cara.

"Nine months," she answered with a sour smirk. "Seven and a half, at this point, I guess."

She could hear the cogs turning in Greef's brain behind his blank expression. Seconds ticked by; Greef still seemed none the wiser.

"What the hell, boss?" Morvik slammed down the glass she'd been drying and impatiently pointed a hand toward Cara. "She's pregnant!"

Greef's eyes went wide as saucers.

"Oh."

Cara stifled her laugh by burying her face back into her hands. This was insane. At least the cantina was still closed: she couldn't have done this with a crowd of nosy patrons as witnesses.

A long silence stretched in the room. Morvik took advantage of that to snatch the glass she had filled for Cara and gulped it down, then poured herself another one, which she emptied just as quickly.

"I'm gonna need some time to let this thing sink in, kiddo."

Cara cracked a smile. She had grown very fond of this woman in this last couple of months, and Morvik had taken Cara under her wing just as quickly. She treated Cara like a daughter, and though Cara had to pretend it was annoying for the sake of her reputation, she had to admit, at least to herself, that this was a friendship she never knew she needed.

She flinched when she felt Greef's sympathetic touch upon her knee.

"It's Mando's, isn't it?"

Cara was outraged. This was _ridiculous._

"How is it that obvious to everyone?" she snapped in utter disbelief.

Greef patted her knee with a indulgent laugh.

"I was there when you two were gazing lovingly into each other's eyes surrounded by raging fire. Let me tell you, I've seen less heartbreaking holodramas."

Cara sensed a light blush rising to her cheeks. She wished she could argue the description was overdramatic, but she didn't have enough nerve to deny the evidence. The way she had thrown herself over Mando to shield him from the fire, how his hands had clung to hers before he begged her to take the child and run...

"You okay, kid?"

Morvik's warm voice broke her out of her reverie of flames and terror and back into a present where the word _terror_ had taken a whole new meaning.

"I think so," she whispered feebly. "I don't know."

"What are you gonna do?"

Cara grimaced. Why was talking about it even harder than feeling it?

"I don't know shit about babies..." she complained. "I don't _care_ about babies. I never even _wanted_ one..."

Morvik gave her a knowing smile.

"So you're keeping it."

"Obviously."

Cara met Morvik's eyes and saw the pride they bore. So maybe she didn't have a mother and a father to share this moment with, but these two people right here were the closest to a family she had had in years along with the shiny beskar guy and his green kid, and their support was comforting enough to give her a boost of courage.

"Come what may, right?"

"That's some flawless logic, there," grinned Morvik, giving her a gentle tap under her chin. Cara instantly felt better; maybe, with a little assistance, she could actually get her shit together and pull this off until Din's return.

"Hey, Vik," she called. "Any chance you got something that tastes like alcohol but is not harmful for a pea-sized human sprout?"

The woman winked down at her.

"Coming right away, sweetheart."

While Morvik started rummaging through her shelves looking for a bottle she probably hadn't touched in year, if ever, Greef sat by Cara in respectful silence, taking a sip from his glass of liquor from time to time.

"You should call him," he said after a while.

Cara ignored him, so he added, "He deserves to know."

"And he will," she snapped, "when he doesn't have more important business to take care of."

"More important than his own kid?"

"The green little monster is his kid, too."

"You know what I meant."

Cara knew the man's tone wasn't as patronising as it rang to her ears, so she tried her best not to sound too harsh when she said, "This is between me and him, Greef."

This was going to be one interesting talk she and Din were going to have as soon as he got back. Too bad she wouldn't be able to see his face when the time came.

"I know," said Greef more softly, "I know. I'm here for you," he added. "Whatever you need, you can come to me."

Cara gave him a grateful smile. She was lucky to be here, all in all. Hadn't she met these people, she would be still out there living off cantina brawls with a bounty upon her head. Now her chain code had been cleared, she was free – free to build herself a life wherever she wanted, with anyone she wanted, and that included grumpy Mandalorians with fuzzy green kids.

"Thank you," she said, two small words encompassing a whole lot of reasons she couldn't list but hopes Greef would get all the same.

"Your fake alcohol, darling," Morvik announces, placing a glass filled with purple liquid in front of her.

Cara grabbed it, briefly smelled its content with a doubtful face, then downed its entire content in a go. She screwed her eyes at the sour taste and decided it was bad enough to do.

"Leave the bottle, Vik."

*

_It takes Din three tries to get in touch with Cara. He's starting to think something might be wrong when her picture successfully flickers on._

_"Cara," he breathes in relief. "It's good to see you."_

_"Hey, stranger," she greets with a radiant smile. "Good to see your stupid face, too."_

_She's cheerful but Din immediately notices she still seems a bit off-colour._

_"You look... tired."_

_Cara's hologram buzzes as she lets out a relaxed laugh._

_"I look like shit, man."_

_"Is something wrong?"_

_"Not exactly," she says elusively. "I'm... dealing with it."_

_Din sighs. He's not buying her nonchalance, but he doesn't want to force her if she doesn't feel like sharing whatever it is she's keeping from him. He guesses he'll have to keep his worry at bay a little longer._

_"How are you boys doing?" asks Cara the moment the child decides to try to climb Din's torso like a tree._

_He patiently pries the child's fingers off his shirt and settles him back on his lap. It takes some struggle to convince him to stay seated, which elicits a series of delighted giggles that light up Din from the inside. He misses this sound more than he dares to admit._

_"I have a lead," he conveys, glad to have at least some good news to report. "Some rumours about a Jedi master training children somewhere within the parsec."_

_She congratulates him for the significant progress but doesn't try to conceal her own concern._

_"No more details. You're exposing yourself enough with these calls."_

_"It's fine" he promises, "the signal can't be traced back to me."_

_"Is that a subtle way to say you'll be keeping in touch?"_

_"Is that okay?"_

_"If you really can't do without me..." she teases._

_The shy flame burning within Din's chest flares for one second, sending a wave of heat up to his face. If only he could tell her how true that is..._

_It wasn't sleeping with her again that changed things, but it had helped him understand that, with her, he found something he had never even looked for. Something he now values more than his own life, something he can't tell her like this, over a stupid holocall, but he swears to himself he will confess everything as soon as he gets too look straight into those defiant black eyes again._

_"There is a lot we should talk about," he comments, a hand absently stroking the child's head._

_"Oh, man," Cara shakes her head with an amused smirk, "you have no idea. Don't think about it now, though," she begs. "Do what you have to do, I'm not going anywhere."_

_"Thank you."_

_"For what?" she giggles._

_"For being you."_

_He holds her gaze until he's afraid she'll be able to read his mind if he stares any more intently, so he drops his eyes to the kid. He doesn't know when he wrapped his arms around him to hold him closer._

_"Hey, man," whispers Cara under the moonlight seeping through the cockpit screens. "Stay safe, okay?"_

_"I'll do my best," he guarantees, but Cara still looks at him like she's afraid she's never going to see him again._

_"Take as long as you need, but just... just come back in one piece."_

_She worries about him as he worries about her, and this gives him the confidence he needed to carry on with this task that sometimes feels too heavy for him to shoulder all by himself. He wonders if she feels like she's not enough to herself any more, too._

_"I promise," he mutters, his arms folding a little tighter around the kid, who peeks up at him with a curious purr._

_Half of Din's heart is here, with his foundling, and the other half is stuck on Nevarro, at the feet of the beautiful woman smiling at him through the hologram. He still doesn't know how that day he managed to walk away from her without looking back. The thought of it still haunts him: if he had handled things differently, perhaps now she would be here beside him._

_"Cara, I-"_

_A knot closes his throat, killing the words before they can reach his lips._

'Not now,' _he tells himself bitterly._ 'It wouldn't be fair to her.'

_So he swallows the knot and just says, "Goodnight, Cara."_

  
  


*

  
  


The hologram of Din and the kid vanished and Cara leant back into her chair, staring at the small projector with a loving smile.

She hadn't even been aware her hands were resting upon her stomach until she looked down and found them there. There wasn't much to see yet, but she could feel the slight curve her abdomen had started to take, how quickly her muscles were softening.

The smile on her face twitched with mirth.

"So, that brooding pile of beskar was your dad," she announced to her belly. "He's a dork, but we love him as he is, don't we?"

*

Cara could feel the Armourer's judgemental look upon herself as she put her clothes back on. The examination had been brief but thorough and Cara could still feel the woman's fingertips prodding her all over without a single sound. She had determined that all was well, so Cara didn't really know what the silent fuss was all about.

"You must learn to take care of yourself, Cara Dune."

"Hey, I take excellent care of myself!" Cara protested as she slid up her shorts. "And how about just Cara, uh?"

They were in Cara's bedroom, the only place in the house where she could lie down comfortably. The Armourer was still sitting on the edge of her bed, observing her in perfect and very disturbing stillness.

"Sharae."

The sounds floated across the room, unrecognised. Cara had no idea what it meant until the craziest idea crept into her mind.

"That's your name?"

The Armourer's inexpressive helmet kept staring at her.

"Yes."

A wake of tingles tickled the nape of Cara's neck. This was the first Mandalorian giving her her name willingly and it felt... immensely important.

"Sharae." She rolled the sound on her tongue hoping she had got it right. "Nice."

Unimpressed by Cara's reaction, the Armourer – _Sharae_ – stood and went to the small desk next to the bed to clean her medical tools before gathering back into their bag.

"Have you been taking walks as I recommended?"

Cara rolled her eyes.

“One hour every day after work. Damn boring, FYI."

"Are you still vomiting?"

"Every day, multiple times a day. And I'm exhausted all the damn time."

"Pregnancy does that."

"Pregnancy sucks," Cara huffed. She brought a hand to her mouth and took slow, deep breaths to fight a wave of nausea.

"It will pass soon," said Sharae, intercepting her eloquent glare. "In the meantime, you need to improve your diet. And rest."

Cara groaned. It was like having a grandmother – a young, strong grandmother who wasn't afraid of calling her out on her banthashit. That was admittedly a figure she very much needed right now, especially without her usual Mandalorian to banter with.

Her mood changed at once at the thought of Din. If seconds ago she had felt elated for how well everything was going, now she was feeling fragile and lonely, and she didn't even know why.

"None of this was meant to happen," she sighed, sinking down onto the bed. "I'm not ready for any of this. I'm not ready to-"

"- be a mother?" Sharae offered without looking up from her instruments. "Or to face your feelings for the one who got you in this situation?"

If Cara hadn't known better, she would have believed she was being made fun of – which was impossible because she was pretty sure the woman didn't even know what a sense of humour was.

She fell back against the mattress, eyes transfixed on the peeling paint of the ceiling. Her hands found their way to the middle of her belly, right there where it had recently started swelling. She hadn't exactly come to terms with the fact that there was _someone_ in there. It didn't feel quite real yet, though it should by now: she was just out of the first trimester and the changes in her body were starting to get noticeable. If she squeezed herself into a corset she could still fit into her armour, but it was getting harder and harder to keep it on for more than a couple of hours.

"How do you think he's gonna feel about this?" she wondered.

Sharae interrupted her cleaning for a moment.

"This question is only his to answer," she answered without turning around, "but I know him well enough to promise you he is going to love this child, if only because it's yours."

Cara couldn't help a smug grin. She would never tire of people pointing out how blatantly smitten Din Djarin was with her. It wasn't a sufficient reason to have a child together, but her little tenant hadn't asked for anyone's opinion before making itself at home in her formerly empty guest room.

"I don't know how I'm gonna tell him," she mumbled. "What am I even supposed to say? _'Hey, Mando, I have news for you!'... 'Hey, buddy, guess what?'..."_

Sharae cast a meaningful look at her stomach.

"There is enough to see. You could simply _show_ him."

She technically _could,_ albeit she looked more like someone who had had a couple too many beers, as of now. By next month it wouldn't probably be so easily concealed any longer.

"I can't tell him now, anyway," she mused. "He's got enough to worry about. When he gets back – if he decides to get back at all..."

"He will come back for you," said Sharae matter-of-factly. "Though he will probably be astonished by how _much_ of you he's going to find when he returns," she added in an entirely different tone.

Cara sat up with a big grin curling her lips.

"Was that a _joke?"_

"No," said Sharae after a fleeting hesitation, then went back to her instruments.

Cara could be wrong, but she was sure she had sensed a smile in her tone.

*

_He didn't think his contacts with Cara would last, let alone get so long and frequent. In fact, he believed she would tire of them, eventually, and stop calling, or stop responding. What is happening is quite the opposite: they get in touch every week, sometimes a couple of times a week, and even if it's not the same as talking face to face, it still allows them to keep up with each other's lives, and that is good enough to Din._

_"Looks like whatever was wrong with you has passed," he says one night he finds Cara in particularly good shape. Her face is fuller than it used to be when she was sick and even her cheeks seem less pale. Maybe it's the holoprojector, but she does look better than ever, not just beautiful, but bright, full of life._

_She giggles at his remark and nods, her dimples surfacing at once, much to Din's delight._

_"Let's just say me and the_ issue _seem to have reached an agreement."_

_"Have you been able to sleep better?"_

_She nods again._

_"Yeah. Sharae has been giving me some stuff – herbs, flowers... It helps."_

_Din chuckles to himself, more than a little shocked. So Cara conquered the Armourer, too. It shouldn't surprise him._

_"She told you her name?" he marvels. **"** You must have made an impression."_

_Cara shrugs with a modest giggle._

_"Yeah, you could definitely say that. I think we're sort of friends."_

_"That is good to hear. Both of you could use a friend."_

_"She's cool. I really like her."_

_He cannot imagine what might have brought together two spirits as different as Cara and Sharae are, but he's glad it happened._

_"Sounds like you have a new favourite Mandalorian," he quips._

_"I don't know," Cara pretends to consider the comment. "She's got tough competition out there."_

_"Yeah?" grins Din. He's still getting used to this – flirting – but he likes the way it makes him feel. It's fun, and also a bit flattering._

_"Don't act like you don't know," Cara objects with a coy smile._

_Din argues, "It's still good to hear."_

_They fall quiet for a long moment. There is more being said in this small shard of silence than it has been said in all their conversations so fair. He sees Cara's lips part a couple of times and then seal again, as though there was something she can't bring herself to pronounce._

_Din is almost tempted to ask if everything is okay when a faint cry coming from behind him shatters the spell._

“ _The kid?” Cara guesses._

_"He's awake," sighs Din. He was hoping he would sleep through this call. "I have to go."_

_"Until next time, Mando," says Cara before he can even realise it's already time close the communication._

_"Hey," he calls one second before she disappears. "Take care of yourself, okay?"_

_He thinks he notices a tinge of pink rise to her face before it's brightened up by a cryptic smile._

_"You'd be surprised by how hard I'm trying."_

*

"Good morning, sunshine," Morvik greeted as Cara burst into the cantina with her cheeks burning.

"Morning," she said hastily as she glanced around. Greef was nowhere to be seen.

"You forgot to button your pants, darling," Morvik noted, causing Cara to growl under her breath.

"I didn't _forget,_ " she snapped. "They _won't_ button. That's why I'm here, actually," she continued, turning to find Greef entering the room. "I need a day off," she informed him.

"You need more than a single day off," he replied gingerly as he sat down at a table covered by a pile of accounting books. The Guild was thriving, these days.

"One," Cara insisted. "And I'm gonna need at least a part of my cut of Gideon's bounty. Tailored clothes are damn expensive."

"Clothes, uh?" Greef scanned her briefly and arched his brows at the unbuttoned waist of her trousers.

Cara impatiently tapped a foot against the floor.

"Kid's not getting any smaller, and neither am I."

"Here." Greef opened his jacket and pulled out a handful of credits he threw at her. "And buy yourself something nice. I don't want you around here looking like a barrel in a robe."

Cara pocketed her money with a blunt swearword that made Morvik titter in delight.

"Hormones aren't making you any more pleasant, huh?"

"I'll remember about this the day I can beat you up again," Cara hissed, then turned on her heels and stormed out, mentally readying herself for the most extenuating shopping experience of her life.

*

Sharae hadn't said anything in minutes. She was pressing a very peculiar stethoscope just below Cara's navel; the other end of it disappeared under her helmet. Cara didn't know how to interpret her silence; she had been worried about the traces of blood she had been finding on her underwear in the last couple of days, but she had hoped it would turn out to be nothing.

"Is something wrong?" she inquired while a surge of panic increased her pulse. The possibility that something could go less than ideally had never even crossed her mind. She could do this as long as everything was alright, but having to face potential problems on her own? That was not an option.

Sharae finally pulled away.

"All the contrary," she said in a satisfied tone. "It's growing fast, strong heartbeat. Soon you will be able to feel it move."

She tucked the stethoscope away and started the by now familiar prodding process all across Cara's belly.

"Are you kriffing kidding me," Cara half laughed, both in shock and amazement. She would have loved to be able to share this moment with Din.

A _heartbeat._

Between this and the little flutters she had recently been feeling in there, shit was getting real very fast. She couldn't have anticipated time would go by so soon: it was easy to think of herself holding a baby in the safe and perfect environment of her imagination, but when she tried to apply that picture to reality it didn't feel so simple any more. As much as she had grown fond of her little guest, she wasn't so keen to reach the end of the pregnancy. Her body was doing all the hard work, now – protecting, feeding, nurturing; soon, however, it would have to be her, and all the help her friends could provide wasn't enough to erase the growing anxiety.

At the end of the examination, Sharae reassured Cara once again that everything was as it was supposed to be.

"If you haven't been experiencing any pain, the spotting is not a concern. It will disappear soon."

"I've been feeling light cramps, recently."

"They will get worse in the next few weeks," Sharae warned, helping Cara get up from her bed. "Your body is adapting to make room for the child. A warm bath will help, if it gets uncomfortable."

Cara, who was still getting accustomed to the term child, let out a mild groan and mumbled between her teeth, "Wonderful."

She didn't have a tub to soak into. She hoped a warm shower would still do.

"All of this is natural, there is nothing to be afraid of," Sharae went on. She picked up a couple of bottles and left then on Cara's desk. "To ease the cramps," she explained.

"I'm not afraid," said Cara, completely bypassing that last line. "I just... this is... it's a little overwhelming."

Getting emotional over this had never been a part of the plan. She had never even thought she _could,_ and yet here she was, scared _and_ excited, halfway through the most challenging experience life had ever thrust upon her so far.

"Have you spoken to Din?"

"Spoken, yes." They spoke more now than they had ever done in person, in fact. "He's calling back later tonight and I- I don't know how much longer I can still keep my mouth shut about this."

She was dying to talk about it, wondering what his face might look under his helmet if only she could casually blurt it all out. Din was going to tell her about his exciting encounters and some valuable intel he had gathered across the Chommel sector, and she could only drop subtle hints the poor guy would never get.

 _'You think your adventurous updates are cool, Mando? Our tiny genetic mash-up has a_ heartbeat. _How about that?'_

*

_Din has been wondering, without finding a convincing answer, how Cara is looking more and more beautiful every time he sees her._

_He chalked it up to her settling down, finding a place to live in peace after years on the run, without roots and a home. Maybe Nevarro is starting to feel like home to her as it did to him when he first moved there with the Covert._

_Nevarro will never be the same to Din, but now he doesn't just think of it as a grave; he thinks of it as a chance of a new beginning, a land of ashes ready for new life, and Cara is clearly flourishing, there._

_"You look like you had a good day," he can't help observing after greeting her._

_Cara bites her lower lip to tame a luminous grin that lights up her whole face._

_"You could say that, yeah."_

_Din's heart quivers. He can tell she's happy, and he's happy to see that. He only wishes he could be a more active part of this happiness. He's curious, and maybe slightly jealous of whoever or whatever can bring that smile to her face._

_"Won't you tell me about it?"_

_"I, uh..." Cara ducks her head and breaks into a little, hesitant giggle. "I have a new friend," she says looking up again. "We're just starting to get to know each other a little better and it's-" she grins as she gives a light shrug, "-it's unexpectedly nice."_

_"Oh?"_

_This is good... isn't it? Cara needs friends, stability. She_ deserves _friends. Din can only hope this isn't the sort of 'friend' that will take her from him before he has a chance to fight for her._

_"It's a... budding thing," she explains, "but it's kinda growing on me."_

_"I'm glad you're not lonely," Din finds himself whispering before he has fully processed what she just said._

_He wants to take it back, but what would that sound like? He_ is _glad she is not lonely; he just doesn't know how to tell her_ he _is lonely without her, that even the kid seems bewildered by her absence, as though he, too, like Din, had taken her presence for granted and now that she isn't here it just doesn't feel... right._

_"Trust me," laughs Cara, oblivious of his inner turmoil, "I'm going to be in very good company for quite a while."_

_Din can only nod and silently pray she can wait for him another few weeks._

*

"Go home, Dune."

"Come on, boss, I can still work for a couple more months!"

"No, you can't."

Cara was fuming. Greef couldn't dismiss her just like that, just because she was staring to get slightly round. Maybe more than _slightly,_ but still.

"I'm not gonna be the one to tell your man I kept you working in your condition," Greef stated, pointing a warning finger at her.

It cost Cara a considerable effort not to give in to the grin tugging at her lips. _'Your man'_ did have a rather appealing sound, despite the obvious inaccuracy.

"He's not _my_ man," she reminded him, "and my only _condition_ right now is _very pissed."_

There was a loud snort coming from behind the counter while Greef sighed and dramatically rubbed a hand over his eyes.

"I didn't sign up for any of this," he whined to himself.

 _'Yeah, neither did I,'_ Cara was about to retort, but she was interrupted by Morvik's stern glare.

"You've made your decision, kid," the woman chided, pointing at her sizeable belly. "You can't do this half-assedly: be a responsible mother and get yourself and your little one outta here."

Cara was at a loss for words. While it stung that Morvik's speech was so sensible, she wasn't ready to admit giving up her way of life for the sake of someone else was tougher than she had expcted. It was selfish of her, and she knew she would have to step back at some point. She just didn't think it would be so soon.

Her job hadn't been particularly demanding, recently: most of the hard work had been during the first few weeks, when she had no idea she was pregnant and had happily kept on beating up jerks upon jerks and even got paid for that. Now the town was fairly peaceful and Greef had no real need of a personal enforcer, but Cara just need to feel useful, keep herself occupied, or she was positive she would go insane.

"You can't replace me just like that!” she tried to protest, but Greef shot her a condescending sneer.

"Watch me. Kildare will fill in for you as long as necessary."

"Kildare can't tell a blaster from a damn pipe!"

"He's gonna do," said Greef without a single hint of scruple. When she didn't move, he sent her another sharp gaze from his table. "It's my final word, Dune."

"What the hell am I supposed to do for the next five months?" spat Cara.

Greef waved a hand dismissively.

"Get some yarn, knit a blanket. Your maternity leave begins now."

"But-"

_"Out!"_

*

_"What's with the grumpy face?"_

_Din couldn't keep the mirth from his voice. He can see the daggers in her eyes all the way across the galaxy; they make her look both scary and funny at the same time._

_"I'm not- Whatever." She drops any attempt of denial as soon as she meets his amused stare. "I had a discussion with Greef," she grudgingly admits._

_This is no news. For his taste, Din thinks she and Greef haven't had enough quarrels in these few months. He would have bet one one them would have ended up with a black eye, by now. Likely Greef, if Cara was in a good mood._

_"Professional conflicts?"_

_"Kind of." Cara raises a shoulder. **"** He's the boss, anyway, so I gotta do what the boss says, I guess."_

_No matter how angry she looks, there is a serenity painted all over her face Din cannot place. It's so intense even her argument with Greef couldn't dim it._

_"I hope he's not giving you a hard time," he says softly. He would reach up and brush a caress over her cheek, if he could._

_"It's more the other way around," she chuckles, her eyes gazing intently into his. It's like his helmet isn't there at all._

_"You're probably too much of a handful for him," he soothes._

_"Oh?" Cara seems intrigued. "And you think_ you _could tame me?"_

_"I wouldn't if I could," he admits. It was too earnest of him, perhaps, but he couldn't stop himself._

_Cara tips her head to one side with a teasing smirk._

_"Sweet-talking me, Mando?"_

_"Only if it's working," he replies, surprising even himself for such a bold move._

_It makes Cara turn her face away as she tries to hide a flattered smile, and Din just smiles along._

_That's more than enough to answer his question._

*

Going to the bazaar had become Cara's most interesting occupation. She had been investing all her energies in restoring the old house she lived in and from time to time she liked to get something new to add to her home: a vase, a mirror, a rug, a cushion...

Morvik poked fun of her, said that she was nesting every time she visited and spotted a new addition in the décor. Cara didn't know about nesting, but she did enjoy making the place more comfortable, more similar to a home rather than just four walls and a bed. There was a drawer in her room, her personal secret: it contained a fluffy green blanket from a small planet far, far away, and the tiniest beanie cap she had ever seen that she just hadn't been able to put down when she had picked it up from a stall a couple of weeks ago.

Today she was just lazying around, looking for inspiration, and she didn't even know how she had ended up at this stinky stall selling jerky and dried fruits.

She eyed the colourful display of inviting gem-like fruit chunks, trying to decide what she wanted, but her attention kept straying to a basket of eerie-looking brownish blobs she refused to consider. Unfortunately, she was not in charge of her own appetite. She hadn't been for the past few months.

"We're not buying that hideous thing," she said with a repulsed grimace. "I don't even know what that is."

She was talking to her belly, but the vendor had been watching her and helpfully provided unrequested information:

"Dried fish liver, miss."

Cara's mouth twisted as she glanced down at her rounded middle.

"Seriously, kid? _Fish liver?_ That's gross."

The vendor laughed, a genuine, polite laugh that made it impossible to dislike him.

"My wife had stranger cravings with our boys."

"Well, this little shit is not making me eat _that_ ," Cara declared with a stubborn pout. She bought a little bit of everything from the fruit section even though none of those called to her as the unstomachable brown stuff did, and tried her best to suppress her most absurd craving so far.

"You'll be back," the vendor warned her as she made to leave.

Cara cast him a dignified glower.

"Not a chance, buddy."

*

"I hate you," she was grumbling half an hour later, headed home while munching on disgusting dried fish liver morsels.

It didn't even taste half as bad as she had feared.

The baby kicked happily against her palm as she walked, apparently very content to have obtained what it had demanded.

 _Little shit indeed,_ Cara thought, running her hand down the curve of her bump.

"Hey, about what I said before..." she said, glancing down at it, "I was kidding, okay?"

*

_Din and Cara have been chatting for almost an hour. He's telling her about the Jedi school he discovered and the young Jedi master he met a couple of days ago: Luke Skywalker is willing to take the kid in and see how it goes, if he can be one of his students in due time, and Din is both relieved and saddened. He's so used to sharing everything with this little pest, he has no idea how he's going to go back to life as it was before he found him._

_As if sensing his melancholy, the kid appears at his feet and starts tugging at his pants until Din picks him up and sits him on his usual spot in his lap._

_"Someone's trying to steal the show, there," beams Cara, waving a hand at the child. "Hey, buddy!"_

_The kid's ears perk up; he launches forward to try to grab the hologram. He still hasn't figured out how this holocalls thing works and it still confuses him that Cara is there but she_ isn't.

_"He misses you," says Din. He bites his tongue, but cannot stop the next few words from coming out. "We both do."_

_Cara's face fills with fondness. She contemplates Din and the child for a moment, then says in a soft voice, "We miss you, too."_

_Din doesn't pay much attention to her 'we'. It's odd but she probably means she and the others – Greef, Sharae._

_"I'll be coming back soon," he promises, placing a hand on top of the child's head. "I must leave him with Skywalker for a while, to see how he does without me."_

_Cara doesn't spare him a playful jab._

_"I'm detecting some reluctance."_

_It's such an understatement Din can't even begin to elaborate how very reluctant he is: Skywalker's pupils are all older than his foundling, at least as to physical development; the younger ones as old as three. Din has already seen the child can easily fit among older kids, that is not the problem._

_"He's ready, I think," he sighs, stroking one of the fuzzy ears, then confesses, "I'm not sure I am."_

_Cara gives him a touched look that thaws away a large portion of Din's preoccupation._

_"That's sweet," she comments, and it might not seem like much, but the warmth it brings to Din's restless soul is everything he needed._

_"Just a few more days," he whispers, gazing deep into her eyes, and there is no need to say more._

_She knows._

'And I'll be back to you.'

*

It was a matter of days until Din's return.

It was all Cara could think about and it wouldn't leave her alone even as she headed out of town for her daily walk. She was getting heavy and it wasn't as easy as it had been at the beginning, but she had been eating so much, lately, that she had to burn it all out, one way or another.

She was close to the West Gate when she heard a familiar voice calling her.

"Hey, Cara! Cara!"

She stopped and turned on her heels to find Bae, the taylor's son, and his twin younger sisters, Lys and Lula, hurrying in her direction. Bae had a small parcel in his hands.

The three teens had taken a shining to Cara the very day she had walked into their father's shop, just around the corner, asking for maternity clothes, and since then they had become very good friends of her. They had taught Cara how to sew and in return Cara had taught them how to braid their beautiful copper hair.

"Hey, guys," she greeted when they approached.

“Good evening," Bae greeted back, gentlemanly as usual. He held out the parcel for her. "We've been waiting for you. The girls and I made you these for the babe."

Cara took the parcel and carefully peeled away the paper wrapping. Inside she found clothes, little socks, embroidered sheets...

"Thank you," she said breathlessly. She had meant to go to them to order this sort of stuff, but apparently she had been beaten there. "Guys, these are adorable."

Cara scoffed inwardly: she could barely recognise herself, lately. _Adorable_ hadn't even been a part of her vocabulary before she met a certain green brat and his shiny father, and here she was now, cooing over baby clothes in the middle of the street. She really had gone soft.

"It's probably a boy," said Lula, "but we kept them gender neutral because it might want to be something else."

"How do you know it's a boy?"

"Mama says that when you're having a boy you have a high belly," said Lys with a nod toward Cara's abdomen. "If it's low, it's a girl."

"Don't you just love science?" Cara quipped, trying her best not to let on how moved she was.

She couldn't wait to show all of this to Din and share it with him – home, friends, stupid little ordinary things that seemed to mean so much, all of a sudden. She was ready to let him go, should he choose his freedom over her and their unborn child, and she wouldn't fault him for that, but deep inside she knew, and it made her smile, that he would be happy about this.

"Some of the Mandalorians have returned," said Lys. "When is yours coming back?"

Bae sent his sister a piercing glare that actually amused Cara more than it should have.

"Soon, I think," she replied whole-heartedly. She folded the paper back in place and tucked the parcel under her arm. "He's got a few things to sort out, but he found what he was looking for, at long last. He's coming home."

Lula's amber eyes sparkled with excitement.

"You're finally going to tell him about the babe?"

Cara rolled her eyes. Ever since they met her, these girls had been acting like she was the protagonist of some cheap romance novel desperately waiting for her knight in shining armour to return. It didn't help that Din kind of _was_ a knight in shining armour.

"Not until he's here," she muttered. "This is not the kind of news you break over a holocall."

Just a few more days, she repeated to herself once again.

It felt like forever.

*

_The night Din tells her he has set course to Nevarro, the flash of joy on Cara's face gets dimmed for a split second by something that could be panic. It's gone as soon as Din notices it, anyway, and the broad smile replacing it is too distracting for Din to be bothered by anything else._

_They end up talking for hours, like two people who haven't heard from one another in years, and it doesn't make sense because they're going to see each other in a few days and it was just two days ago when they had their last contact, but the words won't stop flowing, and the pining looks with them. He wonders if Cara can picture the stupid smile plastered upon his mouth. He will never tire of marvelling at how unconcerned she is by his helmet, how her eyes always seem to break through his visor and lock directly into his, maybe deeper._

_"I should be there by the end of the week," he informs her, basking in the light it brings to her face. It's infectious. It makes him want to show her how much her bliss is his own, as well._

_A thought has been swirling in his mind in the last few weeks, a thought so new and dismaying it surprised even him, but it's there, getting stronger every day, and it won't go away._

_He needs to talk to her, first. After they talk, if he's lucky and things go as he hopes, he will have to find the courage to reveal this thought to her._

_"Hey," Cara awakens him from the depth of his ruminations. Din thinks he spots an unusual blush dusting her cheeks._

_She glances down at something below the hologram frame, like Din does when the child sits on his lap; when she looks up again, there is a raw emotion in her eyes that make his knees go weak._

_"When you get here," she says, almost timidly, "I have a surprise for you."_

_Din's heart skips a beat._

_"A surprise?"_

_He worries, at first, but then reasons that she wouldn't call it a surprise if she didn't think it's something that will please him, so he allows himself to relax._

_Before he can open his mouth to inquire about this_ surprise, _Cara bites the corner of her lip and impishly shakes her head._

_"You'll never guess."_

**Author's Note:**

> There, you made it till the end, congratulations! You get a beskar medal for your patience! :D
> 
> I hope you guys enjoyed this, because I had a surprisingly good time while writing this and I really put so much love and care in this. Let me know what you think. ❤
> 
> Also, since [A Thin Red Line Between Stubborn Spirits](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1579576) hit the impressive 100 bookmarks milestone, I'd like to celebrate with a gift to all of you beautiful people who have been here all along and suppoerted me in this insane, amazing space journey:
> 
> SEND ME A PROMPT OR A FIC REQUEST. I'll choose the one I like most and write it! (I cannot guarantee it will be posted straight away, but I promise I will!)
> 
> Lots of love to everyone, see you next time! 😄


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